4 May 2009

I recently read an article questioning whether pushing for home ownership was any longer a worthwhile or necessary goal for our country.  What difference does it make?  And what difference does what language you speak?  Or, I suppose, what you believe?  I would like to throw in for discussion, whether schools should be run by states or by the federal government; that adds a lot, since it brings on the idea of federalism, something that Alain Peyrefitte, long a member of France's government, claimed distinguished successful Germany and the United States from France - negatively to France.

Since it's a much too broad subject to discuss here I just call it skin in the game.  Owning property puts skin in the game; one need not look too far to see the difference between ownership and rental property - including tenant farmers over the world.  The same applies to people who don't pay income tax, and to a great extent people who are not citizens: they have no skin in the game.

We love to talk about liberty and rights, but how about the sanctity of property ownership, of which rule of law is a significant part  - and paying our way, in all the ways that implies?   Local rule (including with schools), property ownership, voting, paying taxes - and the resulting participation in local communities,  language and culture are what we are and what has made us what we have become.  Take it away, even if a little at a time, and what is left? 

Skin in the game.